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Relocating the market is part of a wider regeneration

Liverpool's 180-year-old Great Homer Street market is to be relocated, the city's planners have ruled.

The council planning committee approved a £2.2m plan to relocate the indoor and outdoor market - nicknamed "The Greatie" - to nearby Dryden Street.

This relocation is part of the wider Project Jennifer regeneration plans for Great Homer Street.

Malcolm Kennedy, cabinet member for regeneration, rejected keeping the same site on cost and parking grounds.

The plan will see 78 indoor stalls and 178 outdoor stalls with scope to change the actual mix of stall numbers and sizes.

It also has potential to make the market bigger if required using property already in council ownership, and consultation will continue with traders, the council said.

Mr Kennedy said the plan would "satisfy most" market traders and "will enable the market to thrive".

Job loss claim

He added: "We have carefully considered proposals by a small number of traders who wish to remain on the existing site, to create a split market, on both sides of the road. However, this would cause major management, cost and parking issues, as well as potential health and safety concerns."

Trader Joy Bowes, who represents the indoor market, said: "I am really looking forward to moving to our new home at Dryden Street, which is really close to where the market originally started."

But outdoor trader Tony Chung, who attended the meeting, said some outdoor traders were concerned that there would not be enough space for the current level of stallholders.

"I can see some people losing their jobs," he said.

The Project Jennifer scheme, which is led by developer St Modwen with Liverpool City Council, will transform the Great Homer Street, according to the council, creating new jobs, new homes, "significant public realm improvements" and a new Sainsbury's supermarket.